Opinionaire
Identify whether your actions, present or past, are more likely to be similar (S) or dissimilar (D) with each of the following statements. Tally the results. Then read Baba’s statement from The Kite Runner (17-18) and post a comment about this passage, based from your own experience, as an interpretation of the meaning of the novel.
____ 1 Lie on your income taxes.
____ 2 Go over the posted speed limit while driving.
____ 3 Drink or smoke under age; use illegal substances.
____ 4 Cheat on a test or plagiarize a paper.
____ 5 Cheat on boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse, including casual flirtations.
____ 6 Lie about weight, age, or height.
____ 7 Lie to parents about school, grades, friends, what you were doing.
____ 8 Lie to your friends, boyfriend/girlfriend, teacher.
____ 9 Repeat a rumor, gossip.
____ 10 Take something from a store if you know you won’t get caught.
Total: Similar____ Dissimilar_____
from The Kite Runner: “There is only one sin…And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft….When you kill a man, you steal a life….When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness….There is no act more wretched than stealing.”
21 comments:
Baba’s statement is very profound. Certainly murder and adultery are forms of theft in that they are denying individuals their personal rights. I try to think of myself as a mostly honest person, and I certainly would never purposely take anyone’s personal rights away from them. However, in selfish acts, I am sure most people are not aware of the theft they enact on people. I think, on a base level, most people attempt to be good and just, and when people do not reflect these traits they often feel guilt.
This lesson of theft taught to Amir has a great impact on the novel because he takes so much away from Hassan, who is practically a brother to him. Like a thief, Amir takes away Hassan’s dignity, his brotherhood/friendship, his right to the truth, his innocence, his relationship with his real father, and his home. However, he feels guilt for the rest of his life at having taken so much away from Hassan. He is attempting to right his wrongs by rescuing Hassan’s son and adopting him in America.
Certainly once we have robbed something from a person there is no going back. The only way to right any situation is to obtain forgiveness and move on in more positive ways. I am guilty of gossiping in the past, and this may have damaged other people’s reputations. I know now the repercussions of such things, and I attempt to abstain and move forward in a positive way. Likewise, Amir sees the flaws of his youth, and the human rights he has stolen. All he can do is try to move on in a more positive way.
Certainly the comments made by Baba echo one of the primary themes of the novel. Everyone in the book has, in one form or another, been robbed of something dear to them. Baba feels his wife has been stolen from him. Ali has been denied the use of his facial muscles and left without the proper use of one of his limbs. Amir feels his father's affections were stolen from him by Hassan. Hassan has been sacrificed and abused by friends and enemies because of their inability to give him what is innately owed to every human being.
The absence of compassion, respect, and loyalty within human relationships renders the parties involved capable of deception on a scale unimaginable and somewhat surprising to themselves as well as the shocked observer.
Not to be discounted at all is the theft of a country and culture that unleashes a migration of it's population that will never return to the soil of their origin as it once was and many unknowingly would never return again.
I keep thinking over and over about the idea of stealing and I am brought back to the continuous "conflicts" the United States engages in with other countries. Stealing is the overall theme of the book. Each character encounters a point when something is stolen from him and thus leaves him helpless and, sometimes, unaware. However, stealing is also the main action behind the activity in the book. This book discusses the life a boy/man dealing with the issues brought on by once country stealing the land, rights, and beliefs or another country. Each of the things Baba speaks of (to kill, to lie, to cheat) are all things that America did and do all in the name of liberation. These Afghani people were lied to and told that they would be protected. They were murdered by the very people that America offered weapons and ammunition to (or worse, put into power). They were cheated out of their lives, their lands, and then told that their customs were unnecessary and even wrong.
I agree with Baba. Stealing someone else’s right to anything is the greatest sin. When you steal someone else’s right you are also stealing kindness, honor, and respect from yourself. That is exactly what happened to Amir. He stole Hassan’s right to protection from his master when he allowed him to be raped. He stole Hassan’s right to knowledge when he purposely told him the wrong definitions and meanings to words. He stole Hassan’s right to honesty by accusing him of something he did not do. He stole Hassan’s right to a happy life by that same accusation. He stole Hassan’s right to a friend, a brother, and much more. And, because of all of that, Amir lived a saddened and spiritually poor life. He had little self-respect. He didn’t have any self-honor. He didn’t even have any self-worth. Amir stole from himself when he stole from someone else. I think that’s what Baba wanted him to understand. When one country steals another country, when one person steals from another person, no one is truly left with anything.
This metaphor extends throughout the novel. Like we have been discussing in class, in order to be loyal to something, sometimes you have to betray something else. What is that old saying? I have to steal from Paul to pay Peter…where is the honor in that?
Baba makes a valid point when discussing sins with Amir. Stealing is taking someone’s right to something that he or she is allowed to have. Stealing is a major theme in The Kite Runner. Baba has always had some resentment towards his son for stealing his princess away. Baba feels that this is a form of betrayal on his son even before he can walk or talk. From Amir’s point of view his father has never been the man to steal or lie until Rahim Khan explains Baba’s ultimate sin.
Baba is able to take various sins and create one sin out of them all. Since lying is a form of keeping a person from the truth then that is also considered stealing. In society now, it seems that people are trying to make lying seem necessary in certain situations. People feel that by lying to someone that he or she is protecting another’s feelings from being hurt. I feel that honesty is the best part of life. If someone asks me a question I will answer honesty because eventually the lie will come out. When Amir states in the beginning of the novel that his past is finally catching up to him, it’s the same with lies. In the end, everything will end up coming out. I feel that you cannot hide from your past, so try to do it right the first time around.
Baba is correct when he states that stealing is the ultimate sin because a person is taking something that is not rightfully his or hers. By stealing, a person is hurting another. The person being hurt is not the only person that suffers as well. When someone steals from a store, everyone is treated as a criminal. The world we live in today is a place that has the motto to trust no one. One of my other favorites that I’ve heard is keep your friends close and your enemies closer. It is interesting that people can no longer trust because of the act of stealing.
Baba's explanation to Amir of how one sin - that of theft - leads to all other sins that people commit, really comes across loud and clear to the reader of the novel. He states his case so succinctly, it is easy to see how many readers end up agreeing with him. Let's face it, Baba had a long enough time to develop his theory, and enough self-experiences to base it on. I think he believes the way he does about all sins resulting from theft, because his life of theft has affected everyone he cares about most: Amir, Hassan, Ali, Rahim. He is responsible for a chain of events that leads to some disturbingly sad results.
We can go back to Baba's childhood
and say that his personality flaws
were a result of an actual thief who murdered Baba's grandfather, thus robbing him of his grand-father.
My problem is, I don't completely buy into Baba's theory on theft and sin. I see the people in this novel being caught in a cycle that began when Baba was 6yrs. old. I think he personally saw the murder of his grandfather as theft. After he has done some sinful things - adultery, denying a son his birthright, ignoring another son,
stealing a man's honor, forcing another man to hide his secrets, etc., it would have been easy for him to come up with his idea of theft and sin, almost to excuse the bad things he did as an adult.
His lies and behavior began a cycle of lies that enveloped those around him, people that he cared for.
While I do see how theft can lead to other bad actions, I don't firmly believe that theft is the greatest or worst sin of all.
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In my opinion, people think less about what they are doing than what is being done to them. For instance, if I was speeding and got a ticket I would be thinking about the money that is being taken from me. According to Baba’s beliefs, my speeding would be a sin because it would rob safe road conditions for pedestrians and other drivers.
On a personal level, and based off of the experiences in the novel, it is clear to me that sinning has the ability to affect people for even longer than a lifetime. Amir staged a theft of some personal items in an attempt to get Hassan kicked out of the house. This could be symbolic for the life that he stole away from Hassan, and the happiness he once knew. Amir lied and stole Baba’s right to the truth. Although it cannot be certain, it is possible that if Amir had known that Hassan was actually his half brother their relationship would have been very different. Most of the time sinning negatively affects more people than whom it is directed to.
The notion of sinning can be taken one step further when looking at Rahim Kahn’s perspective. Most people feel guilty after they have sinned. In chapter 23 Rahim states, “And that, I believe, is what true redemption is, Amir jan, when guilt leads to good”. Like sinning, in my experience guilt leads to a person doing whatever they can do redeem themselves to someone by showing that they have changed and have good intentions. For some, full redemption is never felt and they try to make up for it for the rest of their lives. Even so, sometimes the initial shame compels the guilty to think critically and perform in a way that is better than they had before.
http://www.eclipsemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/hassan-amir.jpg
In the link that I’ve attached, Amir is stealing Hassan’s right to knowledge. He is purposely misinforming him about definitions of various words.
Baba's ideas of stealing and sin seem to com out of his own guilt of 'stealing' Hassan's chance of having a privileged and honorable life. Baba teaches Amir to never lie, yet he lied to Hassan all his life. He teaches Amir not to cheat, but he himself cheated Ali by having an affair with his wife and Amir by not telling him that Hassan was his brother.
Baba's words haunt Amir the rest of his life as he continuously remembers how he frames Hassan and Ali out of their home, robbing Baba of Ali's friendship and himself of Hassan's. Amir's sin has a domino effect. He thinks back on his actions and he knows that he didn't cause Ali to step on a mine or Hassan to get shot, but somehow he feels like he stole their lives by lying to frame Hassan. I believe that Amir did harm Hassan a good deal, but I also believe that he didn't force Hassan to go along with his story of stealing the watch. Hassan had a little bit of a hand in the shaping of his destiny.
I think that Baba should have taught Amir about redemption and forgiveness instead of just sin. As human beings, we all 'sin' one way or the other, even if we don't consider our actions sinful. As a kid, my friends and I would cheat on tests by swapping papers whenever the teacher was preoccupied. I was caught once in physics class and my teacher told me how disappointed he felt in me. He told me to think about my actions and he would forgive me if I promised to never repeat my mistake. I realize now that my actions 'stole' someone's right to learning and a teacher's right to teaching his students.
I believe that we all have a right to learn from our mistakes and seek forgiveness for our actions.
As I was reading this passage in the novel, I was struck by how accurate a statement it truly is. Upon reflection I agree with what Baba was telling Amir, most sins or crimes against humanity can be traced back to stealing or theft. Telling of a lie does steal the right to the truth from a person and the rest of his admonishments follow in these footsteps as variations on it. Reading this particular passage was like an epiphany for me, I thought how easy this concept would be to explain to children versus the standard, “don’t cheat because it’s not your work.” If we use the concept that if you cheat you are stealing a shot at fairness for others who didn’t cheat the explanation makes more sense. In the novel when Baba expresses this lesson to Amir who also admonishes that he would spit upon someone who cheats, yet when Hassan tells Baba that he took the money and the watch, Baba is instantly ready to offer forgiveness. I think that this contradiction did confuse Amir however, he had already committed his act against Hassan and throughout the rest of the story I don’t recall him committing anymore sins. Baba forgave Hassan because he was his son and perhaps blamed himself for Hassan’s actions, or perhaps he had some notion that Amir was responsible because he was jealous of Hassan. Either way, Baba loved his children enough to forgive what he considered the greatest sin against another human being, which I guess also, teaches us that redemption is always possible. Baba had to feel guilt himself because he had stolen so much from Hassan by not admitting that he was his father, also the fact that he stole Ali’s honor by having relations with his wife. While the thought of Baba’s concept is profound and simplifies “sins” he failed to live up to his own expectations and perhaps that is why he must forgive his sons. In this lesson to Amir, we can see the theme of the novel, guilt and redemption, and how to overcome the first so that the second is possible.
The sin of theft is definitely prominent throughout this novel. As LizR said, "Everyone has been robbed of something." Baba is right to say that everything relates back to theft.
The theft of Amir and Hassan's knowledge of brotherhood caused tension to arise whenever Baba praised Hassan.
When Amir lied on Hassan about the stolen money, he stole Hassan's chance at a safer future.
Sohrab lived as an orphan because the Taliban stole his childhood by murdering his parents.
On a larger scale, the Afghanis have had their home, lands and culture stolen from them.
I believe the author wants his readers to see that the big sin of theft has been committed against the country and people of Afghanistan. He has also seized the opportunity to show how hidden sins can ruin people's lives.
It's just ironic that Baba made the statement about theft being the worst sin when he is guilty of it himself.
I disagree with Baba on his assertion that theft is the only sin.
You could also say something like, "There is only one sin, murder ... when you lie you murder the truth, when you cheat on your spouse you murder the marriage you had, etc..."
By the definition of theft, it also means that in addition to the person losing something, you GAIN that thing. If you kill someone, you may be taking away their life, but you are not gaining a life.
Also, sin is a relative thing. Some societies do not view theft as a sin and justify it by saying "if you are stolen from you don't deserve to have it because you can't protect it"
So my problems with Baba's statement involve false semantics and ethnocentricity.
In my own experiences, theft (of material objects) is not the worst sin. Material objects go away eventually and some could argue that the way economic systems (past,present or future) are set up inherently steals from some of the people involved in it (underpaid factory workers) or not involved with it (Indians having land stolen). I would say murder is the most wretched sin because all other sins can be undone to some extent (if you lie, you can tell the truth, if you cheat, you can promise to never do it again, if you false idol worship, you can later worship the 'true god', etc.) but murder cannot.
What is America's role and complicity of betrayal to the Afghani people and its and cultures? How are we the thieves and betrayers of Afghanistan and its people? What have we stolen from them? How have we been loyal to them?
Granted, 9/11 was a day, an act, a time of unthinkable horror. The Taliban, the times of war and terrorism that have followed in its aftermath have scarred our lives forever. Now, almost seven years later, can we step back and evaluate ... look for evidence that is not tainted with party politics or economic motive... and examine the historical record and current evidence.
The novel challenges us to ask some hard questions about our country's dealings with Afghanistan.
The novel parallels the violence on a personal level with the violence on a global level. This would be a good paper topic.
Try out and explore some ideas here,
Baba’s views of theft is interesting because not only does it introduce a major theme of theft in the novel, but it gives us the bigger picture that everything is relatable to everything. Baba relates theft to all other sins; murder is stealing a life, adultery is stealing love from someone, lying to someone is stealing their trust. Baba was able to find the central theme in all these sins and relate it back to theft. Khaled Hosseini
Follows Baba’s lead and has every action relate to a bigger cause.
All the characters are all intertwined with Baba just like all the sins are intertwined with theft. All of the actions that Amir, Hassen and Ali do are related to Baba. Everything Amir does is for Baba, he wins the kite competition for Baba’s affection, and he finds redemption in himself for Baba. It wasn’t until Baba past away that Amir was confronted with the idea of righting his wrong. Amir had to do that because he knew that is what Baba would have done and that is what Baba would have liked for him to do. His journey back to his homeland can be see as him curing himself from his own guilt, but it can been seen as him doing one more thing for Baba’s love, because he knows that if Baba ever knew about his secret he would be crushed. Hassen’s behaviors all related to Baba too, but in a more trickle down effect. Considering Amir would do anything for Baba and Hassen would do anything for Amir, it is not far off interpreting that all of Hassen’s actions where influence by Baba. Hassen could have told Baba that he did not steal the money and the watch, but he knew that Amir yearned for his Baba’s affection. If Amir didn’t have to try so hard for Baba’s love maybe Hassen would have told the truth. Ali is much like Hassen in this sense, because he had to sacrifice his friendship with Baba so Amir could have Baba’s love.
It is interesting how Hosseini ties everything together. Reading the novel it is clear that Amir is the main focus, but taking a closer look at Baba’s speech about theft you can see that it is Baba who is the true focus of the story because like theft, every theme is a part of Baba.
After finishing the novel I’d have to admit my point of view on this subject has changed because of Baba’s experiences within the novel. At first, I was in agreement with what Linda had suggested. Baba’s rhetoric falls far short of explaining what I’d consider to be greater sins other than lying such as adultery or murder. I mean you can try to manipulate words anyway you want to but it’s quite rare that people go to jail for lying. Don’t get me wrong, I feel that honesty is the best policy, but I don’t feel that jail terms should be given out for trivial lies. So I thought Baba over simplified a larger problem.
In addition, after reading the novel, I felt the experiences of Baba in the novel directly related to his vague description of sin. Baba never told the truth to either of his children about his adultery with Ali’s wife. I felt connected with Ali throughout the novel and agreed with many of his principles but he still committed adultery and chose to hide that particular sin no matter how many people that silence hurt. Perhaps then, in Baba’s mind, he’ was trying to downplay his sin by demoting it to a different level. In his mind then he did not defile a man’s … …his friend’s marriage, rather he stole the opportunity for Ali to have a pure relationship with his wife. Although throughout the novel we see a couple instances where Baba is not the most religious man. Perhaps the down play of the sin made it a little bit easier for Baba to live with himself.
Also, as I stated earlier, Baba was not the most religious man in the novel. Baba did however, live a good and charitable life. Perhaps his explanation of “stealing” as the only true sin is just another example of Baba trying to relate to his son. When I read this pass of the book I immediately thought of a similar passage in the bible. I am not sure of the passage, but in the New Testament, there is an instance when several priests were standing around trying to trick Christ and asked him what is the most important commandment. Rather than fall into their trap and picking a commandment he simply said treat others as I have treated you. So rather than give the priests ammunition against him, he gave them a means to a better way of life. In the same sense, rather than Baba explaining to Amir all the intricacies, and laws, and procedures, and languages of his religion, Baba just simplified it and said not to steal. Don’t be like all these hypocrites and express how holy you are in front of the world to see, just live a good theft free life and everything will work itself out in the end. And, because Baba did not communicate well with his son, this simple explanation may have been a means to try and teach a boy something he was sure to convey with simplicity.
When Baba said the quote about theft or stealing being the biggest sin and tying it in with almost every other sin is a very broad statement. My thought after reading this is that all humans are guilty of theft in some sort of way, being it taking a life an animal for the purpose of eating or shearing a sheep for its wool for our cloths to having a barbeque and stealing the fresh air from your next door neighbor. The statement by Baba is strong, but if you look at the whole thing deeply it is a circular statement in that some actions that humans do relate to other humans if they are meant to or not. For example big giant petrochemical plants might not think that they are thieves because they are working within the laws of the local culture. On the other hand it could be viewed that these companies are stealing the clean-air out of the earth’s atmosphere. The big businesses view is that all they are trying to do is get the customer what they want inside what their so-called laws enforce on them and it is all fair in a capitalistic society.
In looking at this in the context of the novel, Baba was a very noble man with some strong virtues they he tried to share with both his sons but not equally. Baba like most humans on this earth he is hypocrite. As human beings most of us try to be honest, decent people but like the quiz we took on the blog showed us that we are not perfect if honest to ourselves. It makes you think of what you are stealing and not even knowing it. Like speeding down the highway going 72 miles an hour and waking the trooper from his or hers slumber time in the grass median. I never thought that speeding was stealing the troopers nap time. Enough of the sarcasm, I did think that it was very thought provoking question that Baba asked and I do not think most humans can live up to it.
Baba’s statement about theft is truly a powerful one. Though it is only one man’s interpretation of sin, he could not be more “on the money.” As I completed the opinionaire, the item that resonated most with me was “Repeat a rumor, gossip.” Though I first found it easy to answer “dissimilar,” I quickly found myself re-evaluating. How often do I receive a “small, harmless” morsel of information regarding someone, and “innocently” pass it on to a friend? Not too often, but often enough to get me thinking. We have all been guilty of this at some point in our lives, I’m sure. As far as Baba’s analysis goes, by gossiping about someone (regardless of how “inconsequential” the information may be), I am stealing that person’s right to privacy. Sins of all different variations can be analyzed many different ways, but when examined alongside Baba’s simple theory, in my opinion, it yields the most influential results. In other words, it alters one’s perception of sin for the better, and can help people change their often times selfish dispositions and actions, by forcing them to consider how their actions negatively affect others.
It is not by any accident that Hosseini introduces Baba’s thoughts regarding sin and theft at the outset of the novel. He does so to plant this idea in our minds as we progress through the novel. However, while the theme that runs heavy throughout the novel does have something to do with theft itself, it also deals with how a person’s actions can positively influence the life of someone else. Hosseini introduces this theme through Baba’s interpretation of theft, in how every sin is a variant form of stealing from someone else. We see many examples of people stealing from others in one form or another throughout the novel (Amir lying about the watch, thus stealing Ali and Hassan’s right to the truth, and ultimately, their right to shelter,etc.). What about the actions that positively affect the lives of the characters? One example includes Amir mustering up the courage to talk to Soraya, which ultimately leads to the two being married. Another instance is Amir deciding to return to Afghanistan to avenge his past transgressions against Hassan, which leads to his obtaining peace of mind. So, I would assert that Hosseini’s intended theme for the novel is this: every human action and decision directly or indirectly affects the life of another in a positive or negative way.
When I first read Baba's explanation on his philosophy of sin, I was impressed. The beauty of simplifying all sins down to one basic act, is that it emphasizes connection. It claims that all sins must be valued in relatively the same way and makes it harder for an individual to justify commiting one versus the other, because they essentially are the same act.
I think that finding commonality and unity is such an important part of life, because it encourages understanding and takes focus off of differences that can sometimes promote hatred jealousy and other emotional perspectives that divide people and cause unnecessary pain.
This is important to consider when viewing the events of Amir's life as well as those of 9/11. When sight is lost of the effect a lie may have on someone else's life and instead viewed according to the perceived acceptability of their exception, an unpredictable chain reaction is triggered. In the case of "The Kite Runner" everyone's lives are thrown into chaos and can only be looked back on the unanswerable thought pondered, of how things would have been different under disparate circumstances. The same question should be asked of 9/11, as well as the reasons behind the attack. In the case of 9/11 an oversimplification and assumption of who was supposedly good and evil, and respectively heroic and bad might have been the cause of this horrible tragedy. Yet still, can we even say we know the entire truth, or is it being denied us just as the lives of those sacrificed in the Twin Towers and now in the middle-East?
I really like this quote. Baba is true in some sense, but the truth is a bit stretched. Yes, theft is a horrible act, but stealing someone's right to the truth is a bit far fetched as well as stealing the right to fairness.When I think of stealing I think of physically stealing something or physically hurting something,like stealing a life. I do believe that everyone has the right to know the truth and has the right to fairness, but these are emotions. It seems as though stealing someone's truth and fairness is a play on words. You do not physically steal these things. I understand what is meant, but I do not think that one who lies or cheats consciously or subconsciously thinks that he/she is "stealing."
Stealing is an immoral act. It is wrong to lie and be dishonest, but I do believe it depends on the circumstances of the situation to decide whether the act was indeed severe, such as stealing someone's money. There are little white lies and big black lies. I think we all know the difference and will eventually suffer some type of guilt for lying or cheating.
There are harsh consequences for stealing physical things including a person's life. There are no serious repricusions if one lies to their friend, unless you are in court. There is nothing done for cheating either, unless it is in a school setting, court case, or business matter. I am sure there are other instances I did not mention as well which are exceptions to the rule.
Baba is right when saying this, but I think he is also wrong in saying this. His truth extends up until a point.
Baba’s statement in The Kite Runner, I would say that I strongly agree with. To be honest before I read this I have never thought of it in that way before. Once I read it, it was like something clicked, like yes, this makes sense! It does seem that in one way or another anytime you do wrong it all comes back to not the action, but how that action will affect someone else in return. This makes sense, because when ever it is going to affect someone in a negative way it is going to take something from them, whether it is truth, their rights, a life, or fairness. When look at the questionnaire I really came to understand what Baba meant by all this, especially because the two that I put an “S” on were to the questions of driving over the speed limit and repeating a rumor or a gossip. I don’t feel that I speed very often, but the truth is that I have done it and so when I put the “S” down on he questionnaire it scarred me because this would fall into the category of stealing one’s life, although I have never gotten into a bad accident or have sped more than 7 mile/hr over the speed limit, I could have caused danger to someone by not following the rules. So the truth is that this is something that I am not proud of and will probably never do again. The other think that I selected the “S” for was the question in regards to repeating a rumor. This I admit that I have done, however I have never started one, I still do feel ashamed of this as well because I feel that according to what Baba, was saying is that by repeating a rumor this is the stealing of one’s right to the truth. I think that people put such a pretty cover over the actions that they take to make them feel as if they haven’t or are not doing anything wrong, but when looking at you actions through the eyes of Baba you really begin to see the sad truth. So, thank you for posting this blog was really a wake up call to me.
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